Cong slams govt on economy ‘GRAND EVENTS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EFFECTIVE DIPLOMACY’
CRITICISM Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram question the NDA’S economic policies, pitch for inclusive growth
NEW DELHI: Former PM Manmohan Singh on Sunday charged the Bjp-led NDA government with “mismanaging” the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and “messing up” the economy even as the Congress pitched for “inclusive economic growth through private economic enterprise”.
On the second day of its 84th plenary session here, the Congress kept up its attack on PM Narendra Modi and the BJP, with his predecessor Manmohan Singh and former finance minister P Chidambaram questioning the government’s economic policies. In its resolution on economy moved by Chidambaram, the Congress said it believes in “inclusive economic growth through private economic enterprise” along with a “viable and competitive public sector” and a robust social safety net.
The resolution, said a person familiar with its drafting, had been worked on by Praveen Chakravarty, the newly appointed Data Analytics Department chairman of the Congress, under the guidance of Singh and Chidambaram.
While acknowledging there remains a strong strain of “socialist” economic t hinking as reflected in the proposed cess on the super rich, a Congress leader said many of the terms and themes — economic freedom, private sector and protecting it from harassment — indicated a more liberal shift in the party’s economic thinking. Congress president Rahul Gandhi himself, said the person cited above, wrote a paragraph of the resolution.
“Modi said farmers’ income will be doubled in six years, it is a jumla-type statement unlikely to be achieved,” Singh said, expressing doubts over the government’s key agrarian agenda of doubling farmers’ income by 2020.
Singh also came down hard on the government over its demonetisation decision and the “hurried” implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“The BJP government has messed up the economy. When Modiji was campaigning, he made lots of tall promises, which have not been fulfilled. He promised to provide two crore jobs, we have not seen even two lakh jobs. In fact the ill-thought and ill-considered demonetisation and the hastily implemented GST have destroyed many jobs,” said Singh, widely credited with opening up the Indian economy as the then finance minister.
Singh was critical of the government’s handling of Kashmir. “The government has mismanaged the J&K problem as never before. They have installed a government where its two wings are working against each other. The atmosphere in J&K is deteriorating day in and day out,” he said.
The criticism came a few hours after five civilians were killed in Pakistani firing along the Line of Control in Jammu’s Balakote.
Singh said the UPA govern- ment, which he led from 2004 to 2014, could achieve a lot because of Sonia Gandhi’s guidance. Sonia, who stepped down as Congress president in December, continues to be the chairperson of the much-depleted United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Like Singh, Chidamabaram also tore into the government over its November 2016 decision to discontinue ₹500 and ₹1,000 bank notes. “Demonetisation was a big lie. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is still counting and won’t tell us how much money has come back. I would like to advice RBI governor to go to Tirupati and get the ‘hundi’ collectors. They count money faster than RBI,” he said. Replying to a right to information (RTI) query, the central bank said in February that notes were still being “processed for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness”.
Reacting to Chidambaram’s jibe at the RBI that it should learn to count money from ‘hundi’ collectors in Tirupati, defence minister and senior BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman, in her pointby-point rebuttal of the Congress speeches, said, “The RBI should hire the Congress for counting black money as they are familiar with counting it.”
The Congress resolved to win back “economic freedom” for India’s entrepreneurs, especially the micro, small, and medium businesspersons, “protect them from harassment”, and provide a stable business environment.
Chidambaram also coined a phrase — “We have done it before and we will do it again” — and repeatedly mentioned it to claim that Congress was the only party to take the country “out of the present economic crisis”.
“Why do I say that? I say that not out of arrogance, not out of conceit, I say this because we have done it before and we can do it again beginning next year,” he said. NEWDELHI: The Congress on Sunday attacked PM Narendra Modi for pursuing a “personalised foreign policy” and claimed that “grand events and photo opportunities cannot be a substitute to effective diplomacy”.
In a resolution adopted at its 84th plenary session, it accused the NDA government of pursuing a foreign policy that is “confused and bereft” of focus and direction. The resolution, moved by senior leader Anand Sharma and seconded by party MP Gaurav Gogoi, said the PM has conducted it in a “cavalier” manner, which “damaged” India’s profile globally, with his foreign engagements being reduced to merely being “transactional”.
“Foreign policy has always been marked with continuity with the backing of a strong national consensus. Unfortunately, the BJP government has disrupted it, and its ill-advised actions have unravelled the national consensus,” read the resolution.
On China, it said both countries share a complex and demanding relationship and maintained that the rapid rise of the neighbouring country “is and will” be a significant factor for India. The party called for engaging China, insisting India’s approach must not only be marked with pragmatism but also realism. “These should be reaffirmed and continue to be the basis on which India should engage China. It should remain our endeavour to work for peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues,” it said. But the “nexus between China and Pakistan poses a challenge to regional balance and stability”, it said.
Stressing that its Pakistan policy was a disaster, the Congress said the government has made the strategy towards Islamabad as a “divisive domestic” issue. response,” it added. The resolution said the claims of effective and assertive policy towards Pakistan are “boastful” and have not yielded any positive results. “It is a matter of concern that there is a danger of that hyphenation being revived as a result of renewed international focus on Indo-pakistan tensions,” it said.
THE CONGRESS PARTY CALLED FOR ENGAGING CHINA, INSISTING THAT INDIA’S APPROACH TO THE NEIGHBOUR MUST NOT ONLY BE MARKED WITH PRAGMATISM BUT ALSO REALISM